Lancaster, Pennsylvania – March 21, 2012. Advanced Cooling Technologies, Inc. (ACT) (www.1-ACT.com) announced today that they will be presenting results on their latest Thermal Ground Plane/Vapor Chamber Designs at the GOvernment Microelectronic And Critical TECHnology Conference (GOMACTech 2012) in Las Vegas, NV. GOMACTech focuses on advances in systems being developed by the Department of Defense and other government agencies. At the conference ACT, in conjunction with its partners, UCLA and the University of Michigan, will present results of a Thermal Ground Plane/Vapor Chamber design that can more efficiently transport and spread high density heat. This advancement has direct application for high power, high heat flux electronic and optoelectronic devices. The new vapor chamber design has two important, distinguishing features: 1) A novel converging wick structure that addresses the conflicting needs of low evaporator thermal resistances at high power levels and high heat fluxes and 2) CTE (coefficient of thermal expansion) matched surfaces for direct attachment to silicon, gallium arsenide and gallium nitride microelectronic chips. CTE matching eliminates the need for a thermally inefficient grease or pad layer between the vapor chamber and the electronic device. Results demonstrated with this design include:
- High Power: >2000W heat input over 4 cm2
- High Heat Fluxes: >700 W/cm2 with 1 cm2 heat input.
- Low Evaporator Resistance: 0.05 to 0.1 ⁰C/W/cm2
In addition the Aluminum Nitride/Direct Bond Copper envelope material has a CTE of approximately 5.5 ppm/⁰C and can be etched for electrical circuitry, with Gold/Tin deposited for direct solder attachment.
Mr. Peter Dussinger, Vice President, of Custom Products, will be presenting the paper. “We are very pleased with the results of the program and believe we have expanded the performance capabilities of vapor chambers. The combination of our converging wick structure and direct die attachment capability to the vapor chamber will now enable high power devices (e.g. high power amplifiers, IGBT’s and SCRs) to have a reliable, passive thermal management solution.” In this DARPA sponsored program, the technology demonstration was vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL). There are many other potential applications. ACT is actively marketing the technology and has seen strong commercial interest from LED and other laser producers. The Vapor Chamber can be customized to various solutions and has been demonstrated in sizes up to 10 cm x 10 cm.